First Day in Paris, a Bonus Day
The day before was dedicated to having a last breakfast with our Isle of Skye group, then getting from Glasgow to Heathrow to Paris. Planes were delayed, but we made our connection and got into the city about an hour late. With the Paris Air Show going on, traffic was heavier than usual.
One of our favorite restaurants was closed on Monday and had a private party instead. There is never a lack of places to eat, so we went around the corner to another we like that is set downstairs in the “cave.” It was a lovely evening, but we were all tired and headed back to the hotel once we had finished dinner.
We all slept in and didn’t go out for a coffee until 10:30! It was a bonus day, and we all needed the sleep.
The Jardin du Luxembourg is always a great place to start a visit in Paris. There are chairs galore along shady pedestrian boulevards and by the bandstand, more chairs overlooking the famous pond, a huge playground, places to get a bite to eat and something to drink, and lots of people watching.
Lovers share quiet moments. Older couples converse with an ease and contentment that bespeak their love for one another. Teens push and jostle one another, first signs of puppy love.
Boys play football (soccer) on the empty bandstand. Men, some of whom we recognize as regulars from all the times we have been here, play boules. They concentrate, playing in teams of two, sometimes laughing when something silly happens.
There are exercise classes. One man runs his group through core movements. Another person leads a line of people walking briskly with their trekking poles.
And there is the pond where, over the decades, probably at least a century now, wooden sailboats with keels, skim back and forth across the water, ducks often in their wakes. These boats are for rent, and when they reach the edge of the pond, the children take their batons and push them back out, just as my father did many decades ago when he was a little boy living in Paris with my English granny.
Eventually, we returned to the hotel and cleaned up a bit before dinner. We were able to make reservations at the restaurant that was closed the previous night, and we sat outside, enjoying conversations and dinner. No one had any trouble going to sleep!
Next: In Paris
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